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Meat substitutes aren’t perfect but they are worth a try

Our taste for meat is disastrous from an environmental point of view. We should celebrate those developing ever-meatier plant-based alternatives

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ONE of the great obstacles to living a sustainable life is that living unsustainably is often more comfortable, fun and interesting. Sure, flying abroad on holiday dumps a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but if you enjoy travelling and can afford to do so, choosing to stay home requires self-sacrifice. Ditto car ownership, recycling, energy efficiency and consumerism in general.

One area of life where luxury is especially damaging is eating meat. Despite the growing trend towards vegetarianism and veganism, most people on Earth eat meat. According to a recent report by the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Ireland, only about 20 per cent of the world’s population – 1.5 billion people – never eat meat. Most of these are vegetarians out of necessity. “They will start to eat meat as soon as they can afford it,” the report says.

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Increasingly, they can afford it. In China, per capita meat consumption increased 400 per cent between 1970 and 2007. Add in a growing world population and demand for meat is likely to go through the roof.

Increasing prosperity is a great thing, but from an environmental point of view meat is disastrous. Pasture for livestock occupies an area the size of Africa. Cropland takes up an area the size of South America, and a third of this is used to grow animal feed. All told, livestock takes up 70 per cent of all farmland. Livestock farming produces greenhouse gases and guzzles energy and water.

The obvious solution to this is to eat less meat, so we should celebrate a new generation of food companies that recognise our desire to eat meat but also the need to do something about its impact. Plant-based meat substitutes aren’t quite there yet, but they have gone beyond what many thought possible (see “The fake burger test: Could meat made of plants ever fool you?”). They are worth a try. Even just eating them once in a while can reduce your environmental footprint.

In fact, this philosophy – to satisfy the desire for luxury and convenience while reducing the environmental toll – may have a better chance of success than asking for sacrifice. It could be applied to other areas of life where doing the right thing is hard: clothing, packaging and consumer electronics spring to mind. Entrepreneurs, start your engines.